Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Karen Davis and I met when we lived together in an adorable apartment complex on Bougainvillea Lane in Vero, on the beach. We were both third grade teachers at local public schools. She still is. She became part of my chosen family, and has always been there for me when times were really difficult. We make each other laugh, and I get such a good feeling watching her children grow.

On my penultimate day in Vero, Karen took me to breakfast at Quail Valley, on the Indian River. We spent three hours talking and laughing, and i decided to stay in Vero one more night, because i realized how exhausted I was after the whole process of getting my stuff together to stick in storage.

We are going to try to see each other while she is in Buffalo for her brother's wedding at the beginning of August.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

It has been a week and i still feel like dirt. The doctor said it is some kind of virus, and that i should feel better by Monday. Grrrrrrr. This is so frustrating. All i have been able to do today is get boxes and assemble them, and put like things with like things, like Kitty taught me. How is it that after an ordeal like last week's moving sale, i still have so much crap? It is the single sock syndrome on a grander scale.

Here's how sick i am. I postponed my hair appointment last Thursday, and i look awful. but i felt too exhausted to sit upright in the chair. So everything has been moved forward a week, except the guy who bought my bed, which i am currently spending most of my time in, and the movers, who will be here Tuesday morning. I still need to get my car checked, serviced, and detailed.

But first, what i really need to do is just keep assembling and grouping. Eventually that will lead to packing, and, as always, I will get the job done, with minutes to spare.

The tree guys came today. This is actually a light filled house when the bushes are all trimmed back.

OK, i've been upright for a while. Time to go back to bed and try and remember that this is an adventure of my own making! I get to do this, instead of "I have to do this." my whole attitude sucks right now.

And then, I remember. I am going on a hot springs tour of the US in a week. Things are starting to look up

Thursday, June 25, 2015

I'm sitting here at the walk-in clinic,waiting for the nurse to draw my blood. I've been sick since Saturday night, after my successful moving sale. This is so frustrating, but I know, from experience, that if I don't go back to bed and take care of myself, it will be that much longer before I can get on the road. The landlord gave me extra time, and the doctor said I should be ok by Monday. So my task for today is leaning in to this so it is over quicker.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Things are getting real, here. I've been absorbed in the process of packing up my life and trying to see my dear friends, who have kept me afloat all these years. Thank goodness for my teaching career and the dog park, because those are the places where i met most of my friends. Others just dropped in my lap, in weird and random ways, but i love them just as much. So i have been trying to cram fifteen years of socializing into three weeks, and i am starting to pay for it, physically. My throat is starting to feel suspiciously sore, and yesterday, I was flat on my back fighting a respiratory infection that turned out to be a reaction from the dusty rug I had Mike Patton roll up on Tuesday. I refuse to be sick for any part of this adventure. So i am trying to pace myself, with lukewarm success.

Over the past few days, I have been getting nervous, especially about this weekend's moving sale. People are going to come and paw through my stuff, make snide remarks, and offer my pennies for my amazing treasures. Also, it starts at 7:00 am, and i am not really a morning person, although i think i can roust myself to make money for my journey. Laura already bought the white lamps.

As things feel emptier, i start getting panicky and grabby, threatening to keep more than i promised myself i would. i breathe and the feeling passes, sort of. At the moment, i am a bit short of breath.

I've spent the past couple of weeks, wrapping things up with the paper, and taking care of other pressing business, like getting my passport (yesterday), paying the speeding ticket I got two weeks ago, applying for a new bank card, getting a post office box, packing things, and coming to terms with the fact that i am leaving Vero in 12 days. Twelve days. Oh, and i cracked my right back molar for which i paid $4,000. Whenever a guy asks if my ample chest is real, i tell him that the only implants I have are in my mouth. This is the tooth that broke on Halloween in 2010, and how i met my wonderful dentist. The injury is the same as it was then, a sharp piece of broken tooth lodged in my gum. I am ignoring it until first thing tomorrow morning, when I will call the office.

In the meantime, I have to write my penultimate house of the week column and it is really hard to come up with 800 juice words and thoughts when i have so many other things on my mind.

It is good that i am so busy, because, then I can only concentrate on what's immediately in front of me. If i think about the whole long trip, i get totally overwhelmed. Plus, there is a lot to be sad about leaving. My friends, first and foremost; the ocean; the weather 8 months of the year; wearing flip flops to work; seeing my former students all grown up; my sweet little healing house; taking a shower outside everyday; the stars; Karen Mantell's backyard; my neighbors, the Mermaid family across the street; the natural beauty; royal poincianas and bougainvillea; the kountry kitchen; the ocean drive christmas parade; the christmas windows at Coastal Living; Seaside Grill; Tea & Chi; Downtown Vero (west of the bridge, across the tracks - gasp!!!); some of the nicest people you will ever meet; grove-to-mouth citrus, especially the december navels and grapefruit you don't need to sweeten: Jungle Trail; Coming east over the Wabasso Bridge; A1A; the amazing history of Vero; McKee Jungle (I mean, Botanical) Garden; the UUs; the scent of may gardenias; the dog park; the other bridges; Riverside; memorial island; the ELC; the Indian River Lagoon; driving around the ranches out west of town; the wacky letters to the editor in the Press-Journal (or the Press Urinal, as my dad called it); bonfires; courteous city workers, especially at the courthouse and county administration building, but not excluding the police, electric, teachers, firemen, nurses, road workers who work in the most unbearably hot weather, when the snowbirds are home, the sweet scent of orange blossoms along CR 510, gekkos, mybold, but friendly racoon ....

The point is, thispart is about endings. Most of them are easy to close off and keep moving, but some have borne a groove in my heart and changed me for the better. Living inVero for the past nearly fifteen years has been full of challenges (huge understatement), as well as really happy, funny times. All in all, it balanced out, but taught me how important it is to have strong, true friends who hate to see you cry, but will let you bawl in their arms if necessary. My friends have been like glowing life preservers in a tumulutous, deep, dark ocean.

Now i have to focus, because i need to write my story, set up tables, pack a few boxes, and get a good night's sleep.

About Me

I am finally doing what i have always wanted to do, which is to run away and explore the world, starting with the USA.
My goal is to see as many of the fifty states as I can in a year to eighteen months.